Features in 2008

The key to economic prosperity is turning innovation into profits. A growing number of countries in the developing world are showing how this can be done. Their societies are benefitting as a result.

The values of science must be integrated into the fabric of our societies.

The scientific community has too many men and, more often than not, the men who dominate science are old.

Science has advanced enormously over the past 25 years. Yet progress has been limited to a few countries. What can be done in developing countries to ensure that knowledge and development are shared by all?

Building capacity in the basic sciences is critical to development. Effective national policies are the fundamental elements of success, but help from others is welcome.

Countries must learn how to capitalize on their citizens' cognitive resources if they are to prosper, both economically and socially. Early interventions will be key.

HIV has advanced from high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users to some in the general population, according to comprehensive new data from the south of China. What needs to be done to halt its spread?

To thrive, the field that links biologists and their data urgently needs structure, recognition and support.

A plan to 'genomicize' epigenomics research and pave the way for breakthroughs in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Clouds constitute the largest single source of uncertainty in climate prediction. A better understanding of small-scale cloud processes could shed light on the role of clouds in the climate system.

Clues from ancient rocks are helping to produce a coherent picture of how Earth's atmosphere changed from one that was almost devoid of oxygen to one that is one-fifth oxygen.

Much progress has been made towards understanding what caused the waxing and the waning of the great ice sheets, but a complete theory of the ice ages is still elusive.

The only way to stabilize Earth's climate is to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but future changes in the carbon cycle might make this more difficult than has been thought.

The discovery of a new silicate structure at conditions corresponding to a depth of 2,700 kilometres below Earth's surface has fundamentally changed our understanding of the boundary between the core and mantle.

Erosional and depositional landscapes are linked by the sediment-routing system. Observations over a wide range of timescales might show how these landscapes are translated into the narrative of geological history.

Climate models predict that the ocean's circulation will weaken in response to global warming, but the warming at the end of the last ice age suggests a different outcome.

Past episodes of greenhouse warming provide insight into the coupling of climate and the carbon cycle and thus may help to predict the consequences of unabated carbon emissions in the future.

With humans having an increasing impact on the planet, the interactions between the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle and climate are expected to become an increasingly important determinant of the Earth system.

Seismic waves generated in Earth's interior provide images that help us to better understand the pattern of mantle convection that drives plate motions.

The past few decades have witnessed significant progress in our understanding of the physics and complexity of earthquakes. This has implications for hazard mitigation.